RDT performance varied in both survey settings, lowest PPV (64.3%) for Plasmodium and P. falciparum (77.2%) in health centres; and Plasmodium (76.7%) and P. falciparum (87.5%) in household surveys. NPV was low in P. vivax in health centres (77.2%) and household (87.5%) surveys. Seasonally varying RDT precision
of as low as 14.3% PPV (Dec. 2009), and 38.5% NPV (Nov. 2008) in health centre surveys;
and 40-63.6% PPV was observed in household surveys. But the influence of age and parasite
density on RDT performance was not ascertained. Establishing quality control of malaria
RDT in the health system in areas with low endemic and where P. falciparum and P. vivax co-exist is recommendable. CareStartTM RDT might be employed for epidemiological studies that require interpreting the results
cautiously. Future RDT field evaluation against microscopy should be PCR corrected.